42 ANNUAL REPORT OF 



such as improvement of climate and soil, water supply in 

 streams, beauty of scenery and covert for game. 



No one feels poorer for that splendid fleet that has gone 

 to the Pacific, and no one will feel poorer for the adoption 

 of this plan of reforestation. 



PROGRESS OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FORESTRY. 



The progress of forestry under the government of the 

 United States in recent years has been remarkable. 



Twenty years ago the appropriation made by Congress 

 for the U. S. Bureau of Forestry in Washington and 

 which was then occupied simply in the diffusion of forestry 

 information was only $10,000 a year. The appropria- 

 tion made for forestry at the last session of Congress, 

 1907, was $2,400,000! 



Twenty years ago there was not an acre of United 

 States forestry reserve (now called national forest). To- 

 day there are 167,000,000 acres of national forest! 



If the United States government employed scientifically 

 trained foresters for the management of its forests in the 

 same proportion as they are employed by Prussia for the 

 management of its state forests, and assuming that only 

 half of the United States' national forests are productive 

 (it is supposed that a portion are too mountainous to be 

 productive), then even for that half it would require eight 

 thousand scientifically educated foresters for their man- 

 agement! 



At present there are not one hundred scientifically 

 trained foresters available for such service. 



What a vast field is open for scientifically educated 

 young American foresters! And what a useful influence 

 will the needed body of scientific men for the manage- 

 ment of the forests have on the general welfare of the 

 country. 



